Retail notebook: Farmer N Dell

Published: Thursday, January 23, 2014 at 07:51 PM.

She attended Parrott Academy, graduated from North Lenoir High School and studied early childhood education at Lenoir Community College.

Evans started teaching school-age students during the summer, and then 3-year-olds when school started back.

“From there, I went to every position in the center, including cook,” she said.

In the late 1980s, she partnered with her sister, Georgia Taylor, as co-directors. The school has 80 students, but a capacity for 150.

It’s not simply a babysitting facility, Evans said. The school serves children 6 weeks to 12 years old and provides hot meals and transportation. Among other programs, facilitators teach swimming lessons in the onsite pool.

Some of the exciting past events has been visits by local fire trucks and an N.C. Highway Patrol helicopter and a campout in the field near the buildings, Evans said.

Susie and Hal Evans have owned Farmer-N-Dell childcare center for 39 years, and now they’re about to turn the keys over to a new owner.

“It is the right time,” Susie Evans said. “I’m ready for a new adventure in my life.”

Jim Segrave, the former owner of Segrave Aviation, will be the new owner. The center’s current staff, including the co-directors Michelle Aldridge and Christie Smith, will remain.

The decision is “bittersweet,” Evans said.

“The greatest joy is having the adult children come back and enroll their own children,” she said, adding, there are at least a dozen parents who were once children attending the facility.

The center at 1320 Airport Road was originally founded in September 1975 on the family farm of Robert and Mary Holland, Evans’ parents.

Evans was always a part of it, but officially began working there in 1982 and took over the business in 1991.

She attended Parrott Academy, graduated from North Lenoir High School and studied early childhood education at Lenoir Community College.

Evans started teaching school-age students during the summer, and then 3-year-olds when school started back.

“From there, I went to every position in the center, including cook,” she said.

In the late 1980s, she partnered with her sister, Georgia Taylor, as co-directors. The school has 80 students, but a capacity for 150.

It’s not simply a babysitting facility, Evans said. The school serves children 6 weeks to 12 years old and provides hot meals and transportation. Among other programs, facilitators teach swimming lessons in the onsite pool.

Some of the exciting past events has been visits by local fire trucks and an N.C. Highway Patrol helicopter and a campout in the field near the buildings, Evans said.

Evans said her husband keeps up the maintenance.

“Hal’s been very instrumental as a supportive role,” she said.

In November 2009, the license and four-star status for Farmer-N-Dell II, a secondary mobile unit used for 4-year-old children, was revoked because of the falsification of More at Four and Smart Start documents.

In a settlement reached in February 2011, Evans was prevented from acting as director for two years, Aldridge could not act in an administration position for one year and the center had to pay about $191,000 in restitution.

Evans said when she was searching for a buyer, she heard Segrave was interested in purchasing and renovating the facility.

“I liked him immediately,” she said about Segrave, “Because he’s just a warm down-to-earth person.”

Segrave said he expects the changeover to happen any time now and renovations to begin in mid-February. Parents received notification Jan. 10.

He said he was inspired by a business partner, who is also a friend, who owns 15 childcare centers. Segrave, a Kinston native, has two children and an interest in business.

“What I love about the childcare facility is they’ve got almost 11 acres of land and a huge playground,” he said.

Segrave said his goal is to turn the four-star childcare center into a five-star facility.

“It’s got the bones of what would make a really world-class childcare center,” he said.

Segrave plans to invest in security, including fencing the playground and installing cameras, and the education of the teachers.

He also plans to repave the gravel parking lot; bring in new toys and activities; and paint, clean, carpet, update the four buildings.

“I think we’ll spend about a quarter of a million dollars updating everything,” he said.

Segrave said he is open to ideas about what kinds of activities staff and parents would like to have.

“There shouldn’t be any interruptions to the operations, as far as childcare,” he said.

Segrave said his family left Kinston the year after he was born and he returned in late 1999, moving Segrave Aviation to the Global TransPark in 2000. In 2010, he sold the company to Delta Airlines, which closed the Kinston plant last year.

The new owner is ready to get his plans at the childcare center rolling.